I don't think we do a particularly good job of looking.

Quote: Homer "That's....................................depressing then. Makes you wonder then what is different now to our last stint at the Stoop if all we are is paying tenants again....we could not afford to continue to stay there at that time..................so much for a partnership.'" Ive said on here before that this is what I expected has happened. No wonder we are losing so much money now and DH cant spend any more. I said after 'bloodgate' that when the chairman!? resigned from the RU club that it might have an impact and I wouldnt be surprised if this is it. The other guy was very surportive. Maybe it is time to consider some of the smaller Olympic stadiums now as a serious option as the financial burden iis too great 'renting''. A real partnership with someone else in say the basketball stadium www.london2012.com/games/venues/ ... -arena.php

Quote: Homer "That's....................................depressing then. Makes you wonder then what is different now to our last stint at the Stoop if all we are is paying tenants again....we could not afford to continue to stay there at that time..................so much for a partnership.'" Ive said on here before that this is what I expected has happened. No wonder we are losing so much money now and DH cant spend any more. I said after 'bloodgate' that when the chairman!? resigned from the RU club that it might have an impact and I wouldnt be surprised if this is it. The other guy was very surportive. Maybe it is time to consider some of the smaller Olympic stadiums now as a serious option as the financial burden iis too great 'renting''. A real partnership with someone else in say the basketball stadium www.london2012.com/games/venues/ ... -arena.php

The Stoop is a top class stadium purpose-built fror rugby. Don't forget the implications of the licensing system. To move again would create a return to the nomadic existence from before, as well as rendering meaningless the Harlequins branding. We must have stability.

A by product of losing Tony Rea?

Could not agree more, always thought this was last chance saloon and we need at least 10 years in a community to even begin to start to think about the club becoming part of it........but..........can we continue to afford to stay there?

I always remember that in the previous incarnation at the Stoop we had some ludicrous figures being charged for every kind of incidental cost imaginable, seem to recall something stupid like £31 just to set the table for the pre game luncheons.

Mind I always thought though that this was a case of HRU taking the mickey and Broncos not always being as diligent as they could be on costs as Branson was footing the bills and people perhaps thinking it was a bottomless pit, at least until Nic got some kind of financial controls in place.

Exactly my point Homer. I love the Stoop as a stadium. Best Ive been to, and I loathe the idea of moving. But... if the Union club are now charging so much rent that it is impacting on our ability to recruit players of the calibre we need to compete in SL this will drive the fans away and I doubt DH will be able to keep us going. Are we really going to find some rich benefactor to take us over and subsidise us after all this time of searching? Its not like we are a Northern club where a succesfull business man helps the local club in his community who he has supported all his life.

So are we witnessing the slow death of top flight rugby league in the capital? Is the rent too high for us to pay? Or at least too high for us to be able to add to our squad? Are we having to leave our quota spots open in order to pay our landlords (can't still call them partners now surely). Whilst I hate us being Harlequins the Stoop is a cracking ground and unless we had the means to set up independently I don't know what we can do other than stay put. I can't see us getting a better deal with a lower division football club ( with all that goes with that sort of ground share arrangement, on the road games etc) unless a local authority has a venue left over from 2012 that they would have us take over rather than leave it as a white elephant. Unless we can get one of the number of Russian businessmen living in London interested in RL I don't see us doing anything else other than stumbling on until the plug is eventually pulled on us.

I'm not sure about the plug being pulled - I have the impression from Richard Lewis that the community work of Quins is highly regarded, and they know that the anti league journalists would have a field day if anything were to happen to us.

We need another Ian lenagan. He came out of the blue following an introduction from Stevo, and it isn't that hard a sell to a company who wishes to support communities to get involved. But as I've said before, why the RFL don't encourage Gillette, Engage, Guinness or other successful partnerships to get involved I fail to understand.

Undoutably.

We've struggled to recruit quality since he left and many of the good players left in McDermott's squad were brought in when Rea was still at the club and had an active say in recruitment: Randall, Melling, Orr, Temata, Purdham etc.

I think I'm right in describing Chris Melling is the sole Lancastrian in the team. To me that says it all about the scope of recruitment.

I'm sure the community work is highly regarded and rightl so, but low crowd numbers and performances(!) on the pitch don't help our cause. Personally I think we need more of Simon Moran rather than an Ian Lenagan (ie someone who'll be around for the long term) - but definitely not another Richard Branson!

Nice work by Quins RU if that's the case.

speaking of BLIND SPECULATION...has anyone received any answers to the forum questions that we were asked to email in after the recent cancellation (note, not postponement) of the January Fans Forum?

I haven't and seriously do not expect any. Sad but true.

Yep...smacks of a big step backwards after the progress made last year in being more open with the fans. The Club need to strike a balance between attracting new fans and keeping the (sometimes myopic ) ones they have. If a couple of "hard" questions are too much for them to handle then god help us. Still, Mac would still say we will win the comp and the "management" will blame Ian Lenegan for everything else........even though he continues to throw cash at us until the RFL told him to stop.